Just and Holy Principles

Benjamin Franklin: The good Education of Youth has been esteemed by wise Men in all Ages, as the surest Foundation of the Happiness both of private Families and of Common-wealths. Almost all Governments have therefore made it a principal Object of their Attention, to establish and endow with proper Revenues, such Seminaries of Learning, as might supply the succeeding Age with Men qualified to serve the Publick with Honour to themselves, and to their Country. (Franklin, Benjamin Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pensilvania 1749)

Samuel Adams: No people will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge is diffusd and Virtue is preservd. On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant, and debauchd in their Manners, they will sink under their own weight without the Aid of foreign Invaders. (Adams, Samuel letter to James Warren, November 4, 1775)

John Adams: Laws for the liberal education of the youth, especially of the lower class of the people, are so extremely wise and useful, that, to a humane and generous mind, no expense for this purpose would be thought extravagant. (Adams, John Thoughts on Government, 1776)

Thomas Jefferson: The truth is that the want of common education with us is not from our poverty, but from the want of an orderly system. More money is now paid for the education of a part than would be paid for that of the whole if systematically arranged. (Jefferson, Thomas letter to Joseph Cabell, November 28, 1820)

Gordon B. Hinckley: In revelation the Lord has mandated that this people get all the education they can. He has been very clear about this. But there is a troubling trend taking place…in the United States nearly 73 percent of young women graduate from high school, compared to 65 percent of young men. Young men are more likely to drop out of school than young women.

Approximately 61 percent of young men enroll in college immediately following high school, compared to 72 percent for young women.

In 1950, 70 percent of those enrolled in college were males, and 30 percent were females; by 2010 projections estimate 40 percent will be males, and 60 percent will be females.

Women have earned more bachelor's degrees than men every year since 1982 and more master's degrees since 1986. It is plainly evident from these statistics that young women are exceeding young men in pursuing educational programs. And so I say to you young men, rise up and discipline yourself to take advantage of educational opportunities. Do you wish to marry a girl whose education has been far superior to your own? We speak of being "equally yoked." That applies, I think, to the matter of education.

In addition, your education will strengthen your service in the Church. A study was made some years ago that indicated the higher the education, the greater the faith and participation in religious activity. (Gordon B. Hinckley, "Rise Up, O Men of God", October, 2006)

Dallin H. Oaks: A third concern is with what is being taught or not being taught in the schools that shapes the thinking and values of those who will be our future leaders. I refer to public schools, private schools, and ministerial schools. I fear that some of the values being taught or not being taught to the young people who will be speaking for us from the public and religious pulpits of our nation in a few years are significantly different from the values that have shaped this nation and its people. I have the same fear about what is being taught by TV programs, which command so much of our youth’s time. (Dallin H. Oaks, "Where Will It Lead?", Nov. 9, 2004)

L. Tom Perry: Not taking advantage of your opportunities in a timely fashion, whether here or in any college or university, creates at least two problems. First, there is a great personal loss to you in both time and resources. Second, you are creating a burden on the Church and/or the state, who carry much of the financial commitment for your education. You are occupying a place and using a resource that someone else could use--one who has not been able to enroll because the schools are filled and, in fact, over their capacities to accept new students. If you are still searching for the direction in which you would like your life to go, maybe time away from school would help you catch the vision you need to give you a direction to pursue.

It is not my objective here tonight to discourage any of you from earnestly seeking after the best education you are capable of obtaining. Without it, you place yourself in a disadvantaged position in an ever-changing world. What I am trying to say is pray, study, seek, plan, test, discuss, and earnestly strive not for the easy and comfortable way, but for the soul-satisfying, diligent, energetic course that will lead you to the opportunities you are seeking.

Enrollment at a school of higher learning is not classified under the heading of an "entitlement" as a result of your birthright, but as a privilege to be appreciated and taken advantage of to the best of your abilities. ("Where There Is No Vision," Perry, L. Tom, March 25, 1990)

Dallin H. Oaks: This homogenization of higher education can be attributed in large part to the increasing role of government in higher education through laws, regulations, and administrative guidelines. The more these kinds of requirements apply to higher education, the more like public education private education becomes. I think the number one threat to the accomplishment of our mission is the federal government’s efforts to control higher education. These efforts are well-meaning. Many of them pursue appropriate goals. But many of these goals are inappropriate as subjects for government compulsion on private education. I am deeply concerned about private higher education and its freedom to pursue its unique educational mission, its freedom to be different. (“A Conversation with Dallin H. Oaks, President of Brigham Young University,” Ensign, Oct. 1975, 17 )

Ezra Taft Benson: As a watchman on the tower, I feel to warn you that one of the chief means of misleading our youth and destroying the family unit is our educational institutions. President Joseph F. Smith referred to false educational ideas as one of the three threatening dangers among our Church members…parents can help expose some of the deceptions of men like Sigmund Freud, Charles Darwin, John Dewey, Karl Marx, John Keynes, and others.

Today there are much worse things that can happen to a child than not getting a full education. In fact, some of the worst things have happened to our children while attending colleges led by administrators who wink at subversion and amorality.

Said Karl G. Maeser, “I would rather have my child exposed to smallpox, typhus fever, cholera, or other malignant and deadly diseases than to the degrading influence of a corrupt teacher. It is infinitely better to take chances with an ignorant but pure-minded teacher than with the greatest philosopher who is impure.”

The tenth plank in Karl Marx’s Manifesto for destroying our kind of civilization advocates the establishment of “free education for all children in public schools.”…

…it is important that you stay close to your children and review, daily, if possible, what they have learned in school, and go over their textbooks.

President Joseph Fielding Smith stated that in public schools you cannot get a textbook, anywhere that he knows of, on the “ologies” that doesn’t contain nonsense." (God, Family, Country; Ezra Taft Benson p. 225-227)

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